No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of the present study was to determine if persons who had made a recent decision would be selective in seeking information related to their decisions. Also under consideration were the explanation for any selectivity exhibited, and the explanation for any variance in the degree of selectivity manifested.

The issue of urban road pricing is currently receiving a great deal of attention. The subject matter has a long history, stretching back to the economic literature of the mid-19th century with a significant renewal of academic interest during the 1960's. Whilst the theoretical basis for urban road pricing has been cogently put forward, an apparent sound economic rationale does not, of itself, ensure political and public acceptanceH. ow then should decision-makingp roceed if the aim is ultimately one of implementing an urban road pricing scheme in the UK? As such, the aim of this thesis is to analyse the process of decision-making with respect to urban road pricing, to develop a theoretical framework for the subsequent empirical research undertaken on road pricing, and to suggest policy options, thus informing the development of policy and furthering the debate among policy-makers. In effect, an incremental approach to urban road pricing decision-making is proposed, which stresses that decisions are generally taken in small adjustments from the existing state of affairs and invariably necessitatet he attainment of agreementb etweent he various stakeholders. Two empirical methods are used in order to analyse this framework. First, a national survey of key stakeholder groups (most notably decision-makers), who have an interest in urban road pricing; and, second, a local case study based on face-to-face interviews with decision-makers who had first-hand experience of the first ever trial of an urban road pricing scheme in the UK - namely congestion metering in the city of Cambridge. This research finds that an incremental approach to urban road pricing decisionmaking is the most appropriate. In order to increase the acceptance of urban road pricing, schemes should be designed so that the various interest groups can gradually adjust to the changes in an incremental way by starting with policies that are currently in force and then considering only step-by-step change. It is still possible however, for change to take place beyond that envisaged by the incremental approach. For this to occur, it would require factors such as the existence of a policy entrepreneur, in situ, who is able to drive the process forward.

Mandatory restatements are unique in the nature whereas they are often ignored in restatement literature examining restating firms¡¦ replacement decisions. Furthermore, family studies little examine the role family involvement plays in determining financial reporting quality and firms¡¦ replacement decisions. This paper is motivated to investigate the impact of mandatory restatements and the restatement severity to related parties of financial statements. Particularly, this paper also concerns on the moderating effect of family involvement (family shareholding and family directorships) in the above association. The findings indicate that mandatory restating firms would replace top management, financial executives, firm auditors and supervisors. Firms with higher mandatory restatement severity have more frequent turnover of firm auditors, supervisors and internal auditors. Besides, the findings show that family involvement is an essential moderating factor in the relationship between mandatory restatement and firms¡¦ replacement decisions. The evidence shows that family shareholding has limited motivating effects for family members to be in favor of the replacement of related parties of financial statements involving in material financial reporting failure. However, family directorships enhance family members¡¦ entrenchment in influencing the firms¡¦ replacement decisions so as to strengthen family control. Some evidence indicates that mandatory restating firms would still replace family CEO with family CEO, which further supports the possibility that family members limit managerial positions to capture control of the firms. Overall, the evidence provides a warning sign to Taiwanese security regulators that there¡¦s a necessary to emphasize the punishment mechanisms for those who are responsible for accounting scandals, strengthen managerial turnover disclosure about their family status and educate individual investors the value of turnover disclosure.

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to describe an expert teacher’s decision-making system during interactive instruction using teacher self-report information, classroom observation data, and physiological recordings. Timed recordings of instructional interaction variables using an adapted Stallings Observation System were combined with simultaneous skin voltage measurements in time series analyses to describe observable and physiological elements of an expert teacher’s decision-making process. The mean and standard deviation of observable decision-action rates on teacher-identified “teaching days” were higher than the rates on “guiding” days. Bivariate time series analysis of decision-action rates and physiological response rates showed a significant positive relationship between the teacher’s decision-action rate and her physiological response rate on one teaching day. The positive relationship between the teacher’s decision-action rate and her physiological response rate was found to be context-dependent and related to the teaching strategy being used. High decision-action rates during direct instruction were associated with high physiological response rates compared to lower decision-action rates and physiological response rates while monitoring independent seatwork during a test. Correlation analysis of physiological response rates with time revealed slight, but statistically significant negative trends for four of the five observation days. Major features of the teacher’s decision-making system included focusing attention on academic instruction with the use of routines for managing students and materials to perform teaching tasks; both proactive and reactive improvisational decisions; and physiological events characteristic of autonomic nervous system activity during instructional sequences of high teacher-student interactivity. Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis (Damasio, 1999) is offered as an explanation for the generation of specific characteristics of the expert teacher’s instruction, such as the high frequency of decision-actions and automaticity of appropriate decisions.

No description available.

The thesis examines court sentencing decisions in theft cases within the context of a proportionality-based sentencing framework. Whilst relatively little is known of the magistrates’ court and Crown Court interpretations of proportionality, such as the impact that various aggravating and mitigating factors may have on the sentencing decision, the thesis examines those factors (relating to both the offence and the offender) that appear to have the greatest impact on the sentencing decision. Additionally, it was accepted here that the courts may rely (to some extent) on a number of other sentencing justifications, particularly crime prevention through rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation. The thesis finds that only a small number of factors individually appear to affect the sentencing decision. In other cases, a number of factors work together to increase the seriousness of the offence and consequently inform the sentencing decision. The thesis also finds that whilst proportionality considerations may dominate the sentencing decisions in some cases, in others the courts appear to have high regard to the need to prevent crime, particularly where an offender has a demonstrated pattern of offending due to a drug addiction. Whilst in some cases these crime reduction aims may be used within the confines of proportionality, the courts’ desire to prevent crime may eclipse proportionality constraints, ultimately leading to an apparently disproportionate sentence.

No description available.